Lundbeck granted commercial rights to Cephalon products
Lundbeck announced that the company has been granted commercial rights to several Cephalon products in Canada and Latin America. As part of the agreement, Lundbeck will register and commercialise several key products which are currently available in the US and/or Europe on behalf of Cephalon. Key products in the agreement include Fentora, Provigil, Treanda, Trisenox injection, Myocet and Nuvigil.
"The Cephalon brands will significantly strengthen our position in these markets while leveraging on existing sales and marketing capabilities adding significant sales in Canada and Latin America from 2012," says Ulf Wiinberg, President & Chief Executive Officer at Lundbeck. "It is our belief that the clinical and regulatory risk is minimal as these products are already approved in the US and some of the products also in Europe."
The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, but Lundbeck is to pay double-digit royalties on sales which will be the main overall revenue stream for Cephalon from these products in these territories.
Isconova and PHARMAQ expand cooperation
The two companies will extend their cooperation after receiving positive notice from Eurostars regarding funding of an extensive development project for new effective, salmon vaccines. Eurostars will finance a large part of Isconova’s and PHARMAQ’s development costs in developing a new, innovative generation of fish vaccines.
Isconova has, since 2008, cooperated with PHARMAQ – the world’s leading company in fish vaccines. Through the previous cooperation, Isconova’s Matrix Q has shown promising results with minimal tissue damage, which is a major problem with conventional vaccines. Isconova and PHARMAQ are now ready to move to the next development level, with product launch scheduled for 2014. The business conditions for the cooperation are under negotiation.
”We know from previous studies that our Matrix-technology is effective in most animals and has minimal side effects. The opportunity to, together with a world leading company, develop fish vaccines for the future while at the same time have a large part of the costs financed by the EU is a strong testament to our technology and a confirmation of the potential Eurostars sees in solving one of the big problems with fish production,” said Lena Söderström, CEO of Isconova.
Eurostars is a joint initiative between EUREKA and the European Commission sponsoring cross-border cooperation between research and development SMEs.
FDA approval for Promimic
The biomaterial company Promimic has received 510(k) clearance for the implant surface HANANO Surface. The approval allows the company to market and sell the surface in the United States within the field of dental implants.
"This is an important step for Promimic" says Ulf Brogren, CEO of Promimic. "The FDA approval means that we are able to sell our surface to implant companies in the U.S." "Coating of implants with HANANO™ Surface leads to better integration of the implant in the patient's bone. We see several areas of application within the medtech and biosensor industry for Promimic´s products. We believe that applications within dental implants can be launched commercially by next year, but we are also seeing an increased interest for our surface on new implant materials, such as PEEK, ceramics and porous structures.”
The shift towards an older population will most likely lead to an increase in the demand for new medical treatments for example in spinal vertebrae, hip and wrist fractures. Within these areas, the use of bone grafts will grow substantially and hence, the demand for surfaces with improved osseointegrative properties.
“We will during the spring focus on market visibility in the U.S. and exhibit at several implant fairs" says Ulf Brogren who will travel to the annual orthopedics fair, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, to find new partners next week.
Probi signs distribution agreement for Israel
Probi has signed an agreement giving Ta`am Teva Altman rights to launch Probi’s dietary supplement for gut health based on Lp299 in Israel. The launch is planned to take place in the second quarter of 2011.
“Ta`am Teva Altman is one of the leaders in consumer healthcare in Israel and the company is also well-known internationally. I am particularly pleased that we are able to move quickly to launch,” says Michael Oredsson, CEO of Probi.
The Israeli VMS market is estimated at 200 million US dollars and is expected to have an annual growth of approximately 10 percent.
Doxa signs global distribution contract
The Swedish dental company Doxa has signed an exclusive global distribution contract for Ceramir Crown & Bridge dental cement with Henry Schein, the largest provider of health care products and services to office-based practitioners.
“We are very pleased to have the dental market leader Henry Schein representing Ceramir Crown & Bridge exclusively around the world. Henry Schein has a proven track record for communicating the unique benefits of technology-driven products in markets around the world, and we look forward to building our share of market with them as our partner,” said Doxa’s CEO, Fredrik Alpsten.
Doxa will continue to build a support infrastructure in the US and Europe in order to provide marketing support to Henry Schein.
In November 2010 Doxa’s patent for the compound comprising the foundation of Ceramir Crown & Bridge was approved in both Europe and the United States. Doxa has 80 approved patents within 22 different patent categories. Ceramir Crown & Bridge is the first in a series of planned bioceramic dental products from Doxa based on the same technology.
New CEOs of Sweden BIO and Oslo Cancer Cluster
The Sweden BIO board has announced that they have appointed MD Johan Järte the new president of the organization. Johan Järte currently has a part time position as CEO of CathPrint and is also active as consultant in radiology at Norrtälje Hospital. He has a solid background in the life science industry from several companies, for example Pharmacia, Serono and SentoClone. He has also been involved in several industry associations such as LIF and IML.
"I am delighted that John Järte has agreed to become CEO of SwedenBIO, because with his personality, expertise and broad industry experience is an excellent opportunity to work for our approximately 200 member companies' best. A priority for John is to secure a prominent position for the Life Science industry in the government's important work with the drug strategy and innovation strategy," said chairman Hans Sievertsson.
Johan Järte will start in his new position in June 2011.
Oslo Cancer Cluster has also chosen a new CEO, Tone Yrvum. She has a broad background and experience from the biotech industry and comes from a position as Sales- and marketing director in Mole Genetics, a company she co-founded some years ago. Tone Yrvum holds a Master in Science and a Master of Business Administration. She has previously been working in both Dynal Biotech and Invitrogen.
“Tone Yrvum´s background and experience makes her most qualified for the job as CEO of Oslo Cancer Cluster. Yrvum knows the whole value chain that the members of Oslo Cancer Cluster represent, from start-up companies to big pharma. I am convinced that Yrvum will contribute in a very positive way to solve the challenges that both the biotech industry in Norway and Oslo Cancer Cluster are facing,” says Jónas Einarsson, Chairman of the Board of Oslo Cancer Cluster and Head of the Radium Hospital Research Foundation.
Tone Yrvum will start in her new position in May 2011.
Meda acquires Antula
Meda has signed an agreement to acquire Antula with well known brands like SB12, Anti, Zyx, Becur, Ac3, Lactal Balans, Eeze, Nalox, and Inside. In five years Antula has built strong brandnames and generated sales of some SEK 500 million just in the Nordics. The integration with Meda opens doors to an international marketplace and broadens its potential through Meda’s OTC organization.
Antula’s and Meda’s OTC products will together make up over 20% of Meda’s total sales. Antula is established in the Nordics with its own organization. Through the integration with Meda several of the products will have potential to become internationally strong brands.
"We are pleased to welcome the Antula team to Meda. They have demonstrated their considerable expertise in consumer marketing and we are looking forward to an exciting future together," said Anders Lönner, CEO of Meda.
The acquisition price for Antula is SEK 1,800 million on a debt-free basis. The acquisition will be financed using Meda's existing credit facilities. The transaction is subject to standard closing requirements and the approval of the competition authorities. The acquisition of Antula is expected to be completed within a couple of months.
LEO Pharma has selected Veeva to support new markets
The Danish pharmaceutical company specializing in dermatology and critical care has selected Veeva CRM to support its growing new markets in Europe. LEO has started the development of Veeva CRM to its users in countries such as Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and Italy.
“We were looking for an innovative CRM solution that was aligned and harmonized across countries and could be developed quickly. It became clear early on that Veeva has the most comprehensive and agile pharma CRM solution and offered the shortest timeframe to implementation,” said Rene Jorgensen, global manager CRM and e-tools for LEO Pharma.
Semcon signs agreement with Stricent
Semcon has signed an agreement with the Swedish company Stricent to take over the company’s consultancy activities. Eight people from Stricent will join Semcon’s pharmaceutical and medtech product development and will strengthen Semcon’s position if the field of life science.
“The agreement is in line with our strategy of growing in the life science sector and we see major potential for growth in this area,” says Cecilia Norberg, Divisional Manager at Medical Life Science, Semcon.
The Lund-based Stricent has been active since 2002 ans supplies consultancy services and technical support to small and mid-sized companies in the life science sector.
“We are extremely pleased with this agreement,” says Jörgen Svanlind, chairman and main owner of Stricent. “These consultancy teams are experts with extensive experience of pharmaceutical development and we are pleased that our activities can continue developing in a larger organization.”
Faron signs agreement with Maruishi
The Turku based pharmaceutical company Faron and the Japanese company Maruishi has announced that they have signed a license agreement which grants Maruishi the exclusive license for the development and commercialization of the Traumakine-program in Japan.
Faron’s leading drug candidate, FP-1201, is the main target of this collaboration and it is currently in phase II in the UK.
The trial FPCLI001 recruits today for the second part of the study and will use the selected optimal tolerated dose to treat patients who suffer from vascular leakage - Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and its more severe form Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). With eight centers in the UK now actively enrolling, Faron expects the recruitment and biomarker analysis to be completed during H1-2011. In addition to safety and tolerability, the second phase of the study will also assess the preliminary efficacy of FP-1201 and determine the sensitivity of CD73 to act as a biomarker for treatment effect.
The companies have started to initiate planning of Traumakine’s clinical program and preparation of the orphan drug application in Japan.
“Traumakine's global commercial success is strongly dependent on Faron's partners who are experts in critical/perioperative care. We are extremely proud therefore to initiate this collaboration with Maruishi as they have a very strong presence in critical care medicine in Japan via their leading position in anesthesia and other intensive care products. In this sense, Maruishi is an ideal partner for us to initiate development of the Traumakine-program in Japan,” commented Markku Jalkanen, CEO of Faron.
AlphaHelix and Techtum Lab merge
AlphaHelix Molecular Diagnostics has acquired all shares in the laboratory supply company Techtum Lab from parent company Labkompaniet, thereby merging AlphaHelix and Techtum. AlphaHelix acquires all shares in Techtum Lab at a price of approximately SEK 6.8 million. The owners of Labkompaniet will control 63.7% of the new company while shareholders of AlphaHelix will control 36.3%.
The merger will provide AlphaHelix with a complete market- and sales organization with particular strengths in the PCR and qPCR areas, which will help AlphaHelix market its miniature PCR instrument AmpXpress. AlphaHelix said that a key to the deal was the international network of contacts among distributors and manufacturers in the PCR and qPCR space that Techtum has built up over the past 20 years.
“AlphaHelix’s patented technology provides unique possibilities for development of a new concept for qPCR based diagnostics. This is our goal with the fusion. On a short-term we will establish a stable sales of AmpXpress through our international distribution channels. The product range will also be complemented with oem based instruments modified for increased user benefits. There are good possibilities for AlphaHelix to grow organically and hence internally manage the main costs for developing the diagnostic concept," said Mikael Havsjö, CEO Techtum Lab.
Profile of the month
Denmark's Minister of Science Charlotte Sahl-Madsen is all business - and means business. She says her career path wasn't planned but is "a story of coincidence and trust" - being in the right place at the right time and with the right skills, and gaining and earning confidence.
Read the full article by Chris Tachibana, click here.
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